Exploring Grief and Environmental Fragility in Tara Menon's Debut
This debut novel, set in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, delves into themes of female friendship and environmental vulnerability. It is a narrative rich in grief, though its storytelling approach is uneven at times.
Marissa, the protagonist, works as a travel writer crafting vivid descriptions of pristine beaches for tourists, all from her desk. As New York braces for Hurricane Sandy, her thoughts drift to darker memories of the tsunami's devastation in Thailand. She mourns the ocean's lost beauty and the fate of her cherished friend, Arielle.
The novel addresses loss, love, environmental fragility, and female friendship. While these themes invite readers to immerse themselves in the currents of grief and longing, the narrative style—deliberately fragmented—can be inconsistent, sometimes drawing readers in and at other times creating distance.
The Emotional Core: Marissa and Arielle's Friendship
The heart of the story is Marissa's past relationship with Arielle. Arielle is portrayed as the ideal friend from Marissa's first day at school in Thailand: an exceptional diver, talented football player, courageous, and strikingly beautiful. However, the portrayal of Arielle’s perfection can become monotonous, especially due to repetitive descriptions. For example, the recurring mention of Arielle rolling her eyes appears multiple times:
"She rolls her eyes at me," when Marissa tells Arielle not to scratch a bite;
"Arielle rolled her eyes at me, and I tried not to laugh," when expressing skepticism about a stranger’s joke;
Arielle "rolls her eyes" again when a man tries to pick her up;
and at their very first meeting, when they are seven, Arielle "rolled her eyes with the practice of a teenager".
Other characters similarly express emotions through physical gestures such as gasps, nods, shrugs, sighs, grinding teeth, shaking heads, and tilting chins. Physical expression is central to Menon's character depiction. To assert their independence, Arielle and Marissa drop insects on sunbathers or serve flaming hot chillies to harassing men; to show their love for nature, they dive and swim; to convey joy, they dance and run. Their emotions are openly displayed, but sometimes the narrative relies too heavily on overt signals rather than subtlety. Even Arielle’s mermaid nickname feels like an unnecessary emphasis on her connection to the ocean.
Depiction of the Tsunami and Narrative Structure
Menon's emphatic style is effective in portraying the tsunami, with vivid details of physical pain and destruction that leave a lasting impression. However, a significant issue in the novel’s structure is the revelation of Arielle’s fate. It is presented as a surprise, but the outcome is heavily foreshadowed, reducing its impact. To avoid spoilers, further details are withheld.
Marissa’s Relationship with Nature
Another emotional focal point is Marissa’s bond with the natural world. It is important that her connection to Thailand’s biodiverse environment contrasts with the superficial relationships tourists have with the landscapes she describes for travel magazines. This distinction is often well conveyed: Marissa and Arielle are so attuned to the ocean that they can identify individual manta rays. However, at times their affection for nature seems performative. For instance, when Arielle discovers a turtle strangled by a plastic bag, they carefully bury it and later get matching turtle tattoos on their ankles. Occasionally, Menon appears to lose narrative momentum, resorting to listing species such as:
"The reef is busy with colour: fiery scorpion fish, yellow frog-fish, red snappers, white-and-orange clown fish, a shoal of electric-blue angelfish, fat black sea cucumbers, powder-blue surgeonfish."
Menon clearly addresses the threats facing the natural world due to tourism and climate change but concludes with a hopeful note that humans can still find solace in nature. At the novel’s end, Marissa returns to Thailand and the ocean she loves. In a scene mirroring an earlier moment, she dives and is surrounded by manta rays:
"The mantas come so close that I can look into their eyes. They take turns swimming in circles around me."
This moment symbolizes nature offering comfort to a grieving person, though its neatness may feel somewhat unconvincing.
